The prior art provides a number of stationary cardiovascular exercise machines. Such machines include treadmills, stationary bicycles, elliptical machines, rowing machines and the like. These devices are commonly found at health clubs and in private residences.
A problem with such prior art machines is that they can become monotonous to use. The user is stuck in a single position for the entire duration of an exercise session.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,928,601 attempts to address this problem by providing a monorail system having a track on a top side thereof for receiving and guiding the tires of a traditional bicycle on a top side of the monorail system track. A user may then ride the bicycle around on the monorail track. A problem with this prior art system is that the bicycles must be fitted with a special apparatus in order to avoid physical contact with other bicycles. Additionally, bicycles must ride in-line with each other, preventing one user from passing another or achieving a speed faster than a bicycle positioned in front of the user.
A further problem with the above system is that it is limited to the use of bicycles at the exclusion of other types of cardiovascular exercise machines.
In addition to exercise devices, recreational vehicles, such as amusement rides generally do not permit interactive engagement with the vehicle to independently control velocity and direction along selected pathways of a plurality of interconnecting rails.
It would, therefore, be advantageous to provide a system that overcomes these and additional shortcomings of the prior art.